UPDATE – The Parkville Event – 4/3/2018

So it’s been another three weeks since our last BLOG post regarding the upcoming MEGA event in Parkville, The Parkville Event 2018. Yes, yes it’s supposed to be a fortnightly blog post, but ah well. Anyway, it’s now 258 days until the big event kicks off, so that seems like as good a time as any to make some new announcements…

Has anyone been following the lead up events? So since our last BLOG post we have had a 5 lead up events all over the world. On a cold but clear morning in Auckland, New Zealand a disappointing 2 teams turned up to the local Mc Donalds for GC7F761, but from all reports they had fun together. Our thanks goes to the honorary New Zealander, but getting more Aussie by the day, sharkiefan for holding that event for us.

Lincoln, England GC7F5QR

On another cold morning, later on the same day, but this time on the other side of the world in Lincoln, England, 13 teams turned up for GC7F5QR, an Australian themed geocaching event which even had a boomerang throwing competition! Our thanks go to the wonderful International Ambassador, The Amasons for holding that event.

Wodonga, Victoria GC7FVPB

One week later, on the 17th of February, back closer to home in Wodonga, Victoria, 20 teams turned up to a beautiful warm morning to enjoy the sunshine and chat all things caching and Parkville at GC7FVPB. It was good to see a number of teams travel quite a distance to make that event as well as a nice turn out from the local cachers as well.

Milan, Italy GC7FXR4

Later in the same day, but again on the other side of the world, 11 teams met at a Japanese restaurant in Milan, Italy to discuss all things Australian for GC7FXR4. How very multicultural! We can’t understand any of the logs, but going by all the exclamation marks and the photos of Italian cachers smiling, we’re going to say that it appears everyone enjoyed themselves very much. A huge thankyou goes to our Italian International Ambassador, orkaloca for hosting that event for us.

Hobart, Tasmania GC7G6MN

And then just last week, in Hobart, Tasmania, 16 teams enjoyed a lovely day of fun and games at GC7G6MN. There were plenty of prizes and a BBQ put on by the hosts gooseandegg and stainless-steel-rat, thank you guys for hosting such a nice event on our behalf. In the coming weeks we have lead up events being hosted in Merimbula, NSW and in Geelong, Victoria, before once again heading back overseas for some really exciting events. Thank you once again to everyone who is hosting these events for us. The whole concept is starting to turn heads in lots of places, all over the geocaching world!

A few weeks ago we announced that people staying at the urban camp on the Friday and Saturday night would be offered free pick up from the airport if they so wished. It is great to see that there are a number of people who have taken us up on this offer and of course the offer still stands, simply message us and let us know your flight details and we will organize it for you. There is only a limited amount of accommodation available at the Urban Camp so if you want to be in the midst of all the action from dawn to dusk on both days, make sure you book your accommodation now. Plus, there is still more exciting things to announce that will be exclusive to those who are staying at Urban Camp on both the Friday and Saturday nights. Accommodation options start at just $130 for the whole weekend, you can purchase it now by following this link.

And while we are all getting excited about the Parkville Event, make sure you grab hold of the official The Parkville Event, 2018 t-shirts. Available in men’s, women’s and kid’s sizes, these are exclusive to Geostuff, the only walk up geocaching store in the southern hemisphere. Customizations to include your team name and tracking codes are available, just follow this link. Note: All orders are pre-orders for either delivery or pick up at the store when stock arrives or for pick up at The Parkville Event 2018 on the weekend of the event.

Of course, we’d like to also take this opportunity to thank geostuff, as well as our other major sponsors, geocaching.com and Cachly for their help in getting this wonderful event off the ground.

The LAB caches at our last MEGA in Alexandra have been the talk of the country ever since that event. Each one was uniquely crafted by selected individuals to create a LAB cache adventure the likes of which has not been seen in this country. The LAB caches at Alexandra have even been mentioned in international forums as being some of the best ever. This was by no accident however. Months and months of planning went in to them to make sure they were as fun and unique as they turned out to be. The good news; well planning for the Parkville LAB caches has already begun in earnest and some carefully selected individuals have already begun getting the creative juices flowing so that we can once again bring you a LAB cache adventure that will be as good as Alexandra was.

The three teams completing this year’s Oxfam Trailwalker have been busily training and Geocaching Victoria has been busy selling a lovely geocoin on their behalf. All proceeds from the sales of these coins go to the fund raising efforts for these three teams, with Geocaching Victoria once again footing the bill for all production costs. We’d like to thank all those who have already purchased one of these coins, your contribution will make a difference to the wonderful work that Oxfam does. For those that haven’t please consider doing so. You can purchase this beautiful coin and support these wonderful geocachers who are completing this gruelling course by following this link.

A few months ago we mentioned that we were working on a plan to make it easier for people who wanted to trade our series of pathtags. It was one of the problems that was identified in our follow up survey from Alexandra that people were finding it hard to identify others who were wanting to trade to make up the whole set. Well, you said it and we listened. Geocaching Victoria would like to announce, that as part of the event bag that we hand out at Parkville to all those who register we will include a badge that can be worn that will display all 5 of the pathtags. During the event, if you are looking to trade our pathtags, simply wear the badge displaying all 5 pathtags. You can then cross out the ones that you collect and don’t need to trade for anymore. It is hoped that during the event this method will enable pathtag traders to easily identify others who are wanting to trade. You can still purchase the beautiful path tag sets for this MEGA at our store. A trading set, which consists of 5 identical pathtags that you can trade with others to make up a full set still only costs $15. Or, if you can’t be bothered with the whole trading business, you can purchase a complete set for $25. Follow this link to purchase these wonderful pathtags.

And finally, now on to the geocache of the fortnight. Today we are going back to 2006 when Robmc placed a series of 9 multi caches all along the Capital City bike trail. This one, GCRZB6, number 7 in the series starts less than 500 meters from Urban Camp which is the GZ for the MEGA. A simple 6 stage multi with a 2/2 DT rating, this one can be enjoyed by all, as can all in this little series. Bike and walking tracks are an excellent way to get around this part of the city. We encourage everyone wishing to go geocaching whilst at this MEGA to park the car at the carpark near Urban Camp (free parking too, BTW) and bring along a bike or enjoy a lovely stroll. There are plenty of geocaches to be had that can easily be accessed along the multitude of trails that snake out from this location.

The Parkville Event 2018 organizing team would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who is contributing in their own little way towards this MEGA event. We have people writing up puzzles for us, dreaming up LAB caches for us, scouting out locations for us, designing games, hosting events, talking to councils and sponsors as well as many other jobs. Putting on an event like this is a mammoth undertaking and could not be done by just the committee alone. The work of these many individuals will become more and more apparent as the year goes on, so once again, thank you. Happy caching guys!